US Officials Hold Back Channel Ukraine Talks With Russia

First, I’m glad to read this news and that these type of talks are taking place. Second, we are all aware or should be that this is a proxy war between the US and Russia, using Ukrainians as fodder. Third, the Biden administration is continuing on with the rhetoric “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” which is rubbish. This is grade A bullsh*t. Ukraine was set to sign a deal March 2022 and the US crushed that

It is the US, with a little help from their NATO consorts, that’s keeping this destructive fighting going with seemingly endless supplies of money and weapons!!

“nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” is jingoism

NBCnews

A group of former senior U.S. national security officials has held secret talks with prominent Russians believed to be close to the Kremlin — and, in at least one case, with the country’s top diplomat — with the aim of laying the groundwork for negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, half a dozen people briefed on the discussions said. 

In a high-level example of the back-channel diplomacy taking place behind the scenes, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov met with members of the group for several hours in April in New York, four former officials and two current officials said. 

On the agenda were some of the thorniest issues in the war in Ukraine, like the fate of Russian-held territory that Ukraine may never be able to liberate and the search for an elusive diplomatic off-ramp that could be tolerable to both sides. 

Meeting with Lavrov were Richard Haass, a former diplomat and the outgoing president of the Council on Foreign Relations, current and former officials said. The group was joined by Europe expert Charles Kupchan and Russia expert Thomas Graham, both former White House and State Department officials who are Council on Foreign Relations fellows. 

All members of the Council on Foreign Relations- This gives the Biden administration the ability to claim or creates the perception of being uninvolved or unconnected though they would absolutely be aware of what is occurring– And connected.

The discussions have taken place with the knowledge of the Biden administration but not at its direction, and the former officials involved in the Lavrov meeting briefed the White House National Security Council afterward, two of the sources said.

The discussions are known in diplomatic parlance as “Track Two diplomacy,” a form of unofficial engagement involving private citizens not in government — or, in the case of the Lavrov meeting, “Track 1.5,” meaning current officials are involved on one end of the conversation

On the U.S. side, the discussions have involved some former Defense Department officials, including Mary Beth Long, a former assistant defense secretary with deep experience in NATO issues, according to two people briefed on the talks.

Read entire article at NBC- link provided above

CIA’s Burns Visited Ukraine To Talk Counteroffensive?

That report ended with these observations/questions

It seems highly unlikely Ukraine has months to succeed. They’ve had month already and have only lost more ground. Lost more territory.

Are we going to be seeing some sort of negotiated settlement on the horizon?

Ukrainians will have to ask themselves if fighting for the US was really worth all the death, destruction and loss of their nation state assets. The loss of their future. They could have settled last year in March.